Somewhat taken back by the confident tone Paul had given to his response about whether the Confederate treasury had actually existed; Mayor Davis was at a loss for words momentarily. “Well, Mr. Waring, maybe so, but I would need some sort of proof before I could say for sure the treasury disappeared like folks believe it did. Do you have such proof?”
Smiling, Paul nodded to Jayne. As she stood up to hand out the photographs they had blown up, he continued with his presentation.
“Mayor, to answer your question, yes we do. These photos are ones my friends and I have taken over the past few weeks. They are photos taken when we recovered approximately two thirds of the missing Confederate gold and silver, money which disappeared almost one hundred and fifty years ago. The two locations where we found the money will not be discussed here today, but they will be in the future. I will tell you that neither location was here in Charleston.” Standing up, Paul slid two identical pristine 1861 gold Liberty Head ten dollar coins across the table. They were for the mayor and Judge Morgan to first look at.
Looks of amazement were exchanged between Mayor Davis and Judge Morgan as they looked at the coins and the photographs for the first time. Those same looks were soon shared with Steve and the mayor’s aide. No one spoke for a few moments as they just alternated their stares between the coins and the photographs now spread out across the table. The photographs included pictures of Paul and the others digging up the gold and silver coins at Duke’s farm, of the recovered coins sitting in the plastic buckets, and photos of the coins they had recovered at the cemetery. “Mayor, this last photograph here, under the tarp you see are the remains of three Confederate soldiers we found. They had been buried with the gold and silver in North Carolina. It was quite the find.” Judge Morgan had already moved out of his seat to get a better look at the photographs that had been spread out. With his reading glasses perched low on his nose, he alternated looks of disbelief at Paul and at the photographs. Then he looked at Steve for some type of confirmation of the truth regarding what he had heard. The slight nod of the head Steve gave to the Judge told him what he was hearing and seeing was the truth.
Holding one of the gold coins in his right hand as he examined the photographs, Mayor Davis quietly spoke to his aide. “Edwin, I think you had better clear my schedule for the rest of the day. I believe we need to hear what Mr. Waring is going to tell us without rushing him. Please have someone arrange for some refreshments for our guests.” Hearing this, Paul could not help but to exchange smiles with Chick and Jayne. His smile told them they would soon be opening the cannons to recover the rest of the missing gold and silver.
“Mr. Waring, you and your friends have made an amazing discovery, simply amazing, but I have a feeling you have more to tell us. I don’t believe you got us here today to just tell us a great story. Am I correct?”
“Yes, Your Honor, you are. We mean . . . .”
“Paul, I am sorry for interrupting you, but what you’ve already found, well, where is it? And, if I might ask, how much did you already find?” Mayor Davis now sat on the edge of his seat, obviously intrigued by what he had already heard. It was not what he had expected to hear during this meeting.
“To answer your first question, what we have already found is safely tucked away. No disrespect, but that is not something my friends and I are going to discuss here today. To answer your second question, we don’t know. We have yet to count or itemize what we have found, but conservatively in today’s market we think a safe guess is at least twenty million dollars, give or take a million or two.”
Mayor Davis dropped the gold coin he had been holding when he heard what Paul had just told him. The coin rattled on the large conference table for a couple of seconds before it came to rest face up. It had been the only noise made in the room as it rattled on the table. “Twenty million dollars? Is that what you just said?” The dollar amount he heard caused the mayor to rise out of his chair in disbelief. Now he stood with his hands on the edge of the conference table waiting to hear more. Judge Morgan and Edwin Henion sat staring at Paul, hoping to hear him confirm what they had just heard him say.
“Yes, sir, and there’s more to find. That’s why we are here today.”
Steve sat in his chair smiling as the mayor’s question was answered. He knew Paul was about to tell all of them something even better than what he had already told them.
Shocked at the dollar amount Paul had already given them, Mayor Davis was now even more shocked to hear there was still more gold and silver waiting to be found. “Wait a minute, you mean you know where the rest of the money is? Is it here in Charleston?”
“Well, before I answer your question I need an answer from you, Mr. Mayor. It’s more of a promise, I guess. That’s why I have asked Judge Morgan to be here today. Mayor, plenty of folks, and I mean no disrespect, but politicians included, seem to do crazy things when money is involved, especially when big money is involved. I suspect many people, including several states, and perhaps even the federal government, will soon file claims against this money when we make it public what we have found. What we want from you today, Mr. Mayor, is for you, as the city’s chief executive officer, to raise your right hand and to solemnly swear in front of Judge Morgan that you will promise not to seize, or to interfere, or to attempt to hold in anyway, any of the remaining money we may find. We also want you to promise to abide by the court’s final say in how the money is to be disbursed. Mr. Mayor, to answer your question, yes, the rest of the money is hidden here in Charleston.”
It was Edwin Henion who was the first to speak. The others were still too taken back by what Paul had told them. “Mr. Waring, correct me if I am wrong. What you are saying is that you would expect Charleston to receive a portion of the found money, hopefully a generous portion, and this money would then enable the city to pay for the Civil War’s Anniversary Celebration. Your thinking is Charleston might receive enough to cover the cost of the celebration so it would not have an adverse impact upon the city budget. That’s what you were alluding to on the phone yesterday, correct?”
“Correct. I would suspect Charleston will likely be able to pay for the Anniversary Celebration and at least one other obligation the city currently has. We have found a lot of money already and we are going to find a lot more as well. It will be up to others to decide who gets what, but I would be shocked if Charleston did not receive a portion of the recovered money.”
Mayor Davis had not said a word. He had just sat there digesting what Paul had told them. He now wondered how Charleston, as well as his own political career, could benefit from this infusion of money. Now he looked to Judge Morgan for advice. It was just what Paul had hoped he would do. “Judge, what he is asking me to do here today, can he do that? Is it legal?”
“It is if I say it is and from what I know right now it’s legal. Mr. Mayor, I am not your attorney, but over thirty-five years of practicing law tells me you would be very foolish not to agree to what Mr. Waring is asking of you. Charleston is likely going to reap a huge financial benefit at little, if any, expense to the city. I would also offer to you that the positive media attention for the city and to your administration is another added bonus you cannot put a price tag on. You certainly do not have to agree to what Mr. Waring is requesting of you, but if you do not, he is also not obligated to tell you where the rest of the money is. I would think you would rather be a so-called partner with Mr. Waring and his associates rather than declining his offer.”
Mayor Davis looked at his aide who was seated next to him and saw he was nodding his head in agreement with what Judge Morgan had just said. “Mayor, this is a homerun in every way possible. I would strongly recommend you accept the conditions Mr. Waring has asked of you.”
Before the mayor could respond, Paul had Jayne slide a piece of paper across the table to Mayor Davis. “Mayor, besides your verbal promise, I’d appreciate you signing this agreement
that we typed up last night. It’s just what we talked about, but it’s also now in writing. You sign it, I’ll sign it, and perhaps Judge Morgan will sign it as a witness. Then I’m sure Mr. Henion can find someone here in the building to notarize it for us, just to make it official and all. You can have a copy for your records and I’ll keep the original.”
As he took in all that was being said, Judge Morgan smiled to himself as he realized Paul had just told the mayor he did not trust his verbal promise to not try and seize the money they hoped to find later in the day. He then looked at Paul. “Mr. Waring, seems you have thought of everything, haven’t you?”
“I’ve tried to, Judge.”
After reading the one page document Jayne had slid across the table to him, Mayor Davis signed his name to it. He then passed it across the table to Judge Morgan to endorse as a witness to his promise. Then he raised his right hand for all to see, promising neither he nor the city would attempt to seize any of the money. It took several minutes to complete the notary process, but soon it was completed and copies of the document were given to the mayor and to Judge Morgan. “OK, what’s next, Mr. Waring?”
Paul suggested to Mayor Davis that he take Edwin Henion, Steve, and Judge Morgan out to lunch so he and the others could have time to get done what they needed to get done before he showed them where the gold and silver had been hidden. He then made a couple of requests of the mayor so the gold and silver could be taken out of the cannons. First he requested the mayor arrange to have the Charleston Public Works Department contacted so three of their heavy duty flat bed wreckers could be made available to him. “Please tell them we need them here as soon as possible and please tell them we are going to need a large part of their garage to work in later this afternoon. They will need to clear an area for us to use. Oh, and we are also going to need two police cars to escort us around the city for a few hours.”
Looking at his aide, Mayor Davis directed him to contact the Public Works superintendent and the police chief’s office. “Tell them they are to give Mr. Waring anything he needs today.” After giving Henion his marching orders, the mayor looked back at Paul. “Anything else?” Henion paused to hear the answer before leaving the conference room.
“Yes, three more things as well. Please make sure the Public Works Department has an air compressor and an air chisel, or a chipping hammer, and at least twenty-five large clean tote bins ready for us when we get there. Oh, one last thing. Yesterday when we walked by City Hall, I noticed a Loomis armored car parked out in front of the building. Does the city use Loomis as a courier for your bank transactions?”
Edwin Henion, who had walked back towards the conference table, answered for the mayor, first by nodding his head. “I’m not really sure why you are asking, Mr. Waring, but to answer your question, yes we do. May I ask why you asked that question?”
“Because I expect in a very short time we are going to find a few million dollars in gold and silver. I’d like you to make arrangements with Loomis to have them loan us one of their armored cars. We will need to have the armored car meet us at the Public Works garage, say around four this afternoon. It’s going to take us a couple of hours to get to the gold and silver, so no sense having them stand around in the heat waiting for us to get to it. Tell them we should be ready around then, but we will need them for a few hours after that as well. We will have one more stop to make after we get done at the garage.”
Edwin Henion looked over at Mayor Davis. He again nodded his approval to Paul’s request.
Listening to Paul tell the mayor what he needed him to do caused Steve, as hard as he tried not to, to laugh out loud. “I cannot wait to see what he is going to ask for next! A very remarkable and brazen young man he is, very remarkable!” He had not directed his comments to anyone in particular, but they drew a chuckle from Judge Morgan. Soon even Mayor Davis had to laugh at Steve’s comment.
Still smiling at Steve’s comment, Judge Morgan walked over to a nearby side table where a large pot of coffee had been brought into the room. After pouring himself a cup of coffee, he picked up the phone sitting at the far end of the table. Phoning his law clerk, Judge Morgan directed her to cancel his schedule for the rest of the day. Picking up his cup of coffee, he turned to look at the others who were still seated around the table. “This is going to be something I want to see. I’m not going to miss out on this opportunity.”
As Paul looked over at Mayor Davis, he could see the look of concern in his face. “Mr. Mayor, I know this is confusing. While we have not given you all of the details, we soon will, I promise. As I suggested, take the others to lunch and we will meet you at the Public Works garage at three this afternoon. We promise you won’t regret this.” Gathering up the photos and the original agreement the mayor had signed; Paul again directed a comment to Mayor Davis. “Mr. Mayor, you can keep those two gold coins for now. Consider them part of the down payment on the cost of the anniversary celebration.”
Soon they exited the elevator and walked out into the lobby of city hall. As they did, Chick stopped them so they could talk for a moment. “Well, that went too smoothly. I expected some resistance, perhaps reluctance might be a better word, to cooperate with us, but I’m glad it went well. One thing though, isn’t it strange that neither the mayor, nor his aide, asked us where the money had been hidden in the city. I would have thought that would have been one of the first questions they might have asked.”
“So did I,” Paul replied, “but they likely realized we weren’t going to tell them, so they didn’t ask. Who knows, but we got what we needed so let’s get moving. I’ll see you two later at the garage. Good luck!”
The two police officers assigned to Chick and Jayne for the afternoon were already there waiting for them in the lobby of city hall. As the four of them left, Paul stayed in the lobby to call Bobby Ray on his cell phone.
“What’s up, bro?”
“Bobby Ray, we’ve got no time for games right now. I need you and Pete to meet me at the city’s Public Work garage by two. Tell Pete I want his cameras set up and ready to film the cannons when they are being delivered to the garage. And do me a favor, Brian and Sean are driving down here to see this thing unfold. Call them on Brian’s cell and give them directions to the PW garage. Try to get them there by two.” In his excitement, Paul realized that he had unintentionally referred to the garage by the abbreviation used by most cops when referring to Public Works departments. The abbreviation made radio transmissions shorter and easier to understand.
“We’ll be ready. See you then, amigo!”
Over the next two hours, while Paul went to meet with the Public Works superintendent, Jayne and Chick, with help from the two Charleston police officers, guided the wreckers around the city. Their assignment for the afternoon was to pick up the cannons from where they had sat in the city’s various parks. One had sat in a neglected cemetery for many years. After being loaded onto the flatbed wreckers, the cannons would be brought to the Public Works garage.
As they drove around the city in the lead police car, Jayne rode in the back seat, while Chick sat in the front seat with Officer Lonnie Mo. “Officer Mo, this is the first time Jayne has ridden in the back seat of a police car. Well, the first time not wearing handcuffs that is.”
“Jackass!”
Jayne’s quick response caused Chick and Officer Mo to laugh. Jayne had led a quiet life, almost a boring one, surrounded by mostly her books and her research. A member of a religious order stood a far better chance of being placed in the back of a police car under arrest than she had. Chick soon turned around to look at her and saw she was now smiling at the comment he had made.
Just before three, they were all back at the Public Works garage. All of the cannons were lined up in one section of the twenty bay garage. Each of the cannons now rested on large bundles of heavy wooden railroad ties. The ties were being used to protect the garage’s concre
te floor from damage and to hold the weight of the heavy cannons. The cannons sat roughly four feet off the floor of the large garage. Cannons number eight, nine, and ‘Old Number Six’ were the only ones not there. Paul and the others had decided they would deal with them at the end of the day as they knew those three cannons were not going anywhere between now and then. Before the others had arrived at the garage, Paul told Chick and Jayne not to mention anything about the one cannon they had not located. “What they don’t know won’t hurt them, plus it will buy us another few days to try and find it before someone else does.”
Pete had just finished videotaping the cannons as they sat in the large garage, having already photographed them, when the mayor and the others arrived with sirens wailing. They had been personally escorted there by Charleston’s police chief and Officer Mo. Seeing the circus which was about to unfold in front of him, just like it had in the marina’s parking lot the day he had told Bobby Ray about finding the remains of Captain Francis, Paul had his friend run interference with the Charleston police officers who were now present. He hoped the bond between fellow police officers would make them understand that all was on the level. In short order, Bobby Ray soon had the Charleston officers off to the side of the garage telling them his jokes and listening to theirs.
Watching as the mayor climbed out of his city vehicle, Paul saw he had brought someone with him who he did not recognize. Now he walked to intercept them before they could get inside of the garage. Mayor Davis quickly saw the concerned look on his face.
“Paul, this is Mr. James Randall, he is the unofficial historian for the city of Charleston. The unofficial part means we work him hard and he does not get paid for his services. I want him to witness part of our city’s past coming to life here today. I hope you do not mind?”
“Nope, no problem at all, just no photos please.” Paul then introduced his two sons to Mayor Davis. “They are going to be our laborers for the day. I get to work them hard as well, except I have to pay them for their services, usually by way of an expensive dinner bill.”
Confederate Gold and Silver Page 51